Call it a catharsis. Call it about time. Call it anything you want, but the Rockies badly needed a victory and they got it Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field.

They smashed five home runs — two by Troy Tulowitzki — to beat the San Diego Padres 6-3.

By taking two of three from the Padres, the Rockies won their first home series since May 16-18 when they won two of three against San Diego. It was the Rockies’ first series victory of any kind since they swept the Giants in San Francisco, June 13-15. It marked the first time the Rockies won two in a row since they had a five-game winning streak from June 11-15.

“I’m careful about saying when games are must-wins, but all things considered we needed to win that series,” manager Walt Weiss said. “We did what we had to do to win the game. We won the game with the long ball, really. (The) bullpen did a nice job. Found a way to win a game.”

Tulowitzki, still holding out a glimmer of hope for the postseason, even though the Rockies are 14 games under .500 (39-53), called winning the series “huge.”

“It’s been a rough first half, no doubt,” Tulo said. “The two times I’ve been to the playoffs (in 2007 and ’09), we had to come from behind in the second half. That’s what I’m trying to preach to these guys every day, that we can do it.”

The Rockies’ salvo began early. Newly minted all-star Charlie Blackmon led off the first with a loud solo homer to right-center off San Diego right-hander Eric Stults. It was Blackmon’s 14th homer, and all of them have come from the leadoff spot, the most in the majors. His 47 RBIs from the top of the order also lead baseball.

Two batters later, Tulo made it 2-0 on a line-drive homer into the left-field bleachers, his first homer since June 15. Tulo had been just a tick off pitches in his last few games, but he found the bull’s-eye on Wednesday.

“That’s baseball,” he said. “I had some good pitches to hit, especially yesterday with men on first and second. I wasn’t too happy about that (at-bat). I made some adjustments and had some better swings today.”

Wilin Rosario led off the fourth inning with a homer to left off Stults, putting the Rockies in front 3-1. It was Rosario’s ninth homer.

The Rockies piled it on in the eighth. Blackmon led off with a single and trotted home on Drew Stubbs’ rocket to right field off reliever Joaquin Benoit. Then Tulo belted his second home run of the day, and his 20th of the season.

The Rockies received scoreless relief from Tommy Kahnle, Rex Brothers, Boone Logan and LaTroy Hawkins, who picked up his 17th save. Kahnle, who pitched 1 1/3 innings, ended the fifth with a key strikeout of Will Venable.

“That was big by Tommy (Kahnle),” Weiss said. “He was a little fatigued the last time I used him and we gave him a couple of days off. And he did a really nice job.”

Starter Jair Jurrjens breathed a lot easier Wednesday — literally, if not figuratively — as he pitched 4 2/3 innings. After the game, he packed his bags for Triple-A Colorado Springs where he likely will be sent on Friday to make room for Carlos Gonzalez, who’ll be returning from the disabled list to the 25-man roster.

Jurrjens threw a crisp and efficient three innings but then ran into big trouble and was gone in the fifth. The veteran right-hander needed 96 pitches (58 strikes) to complete his journey. That’s far too many. San Diego’s Stults, by comparison, needed only 68 pitches to get through his five innings.

Jurrjens gave up a solo homer to Jake Goebbert in the fourth, then served up a leadoff homer to former Rockies outfielder Seth Smith in the fifth. Two Padres singles, followed by a wild pitch by Jurrjens, allowed Chris Denorfia to score from third to tie the game, 3-3, in the fifth. The Padres tagged Jurrjens for eight hits.

In Jurrjens’ first start in a Rockies uniform last Friday, he got blown off the mound by the Dodgers, allowing eight runs on 12 hits. After he was pulled from the game, he experienced breathing problems severe enough to send him to the hospital for tests.

“I felt good today,” he said. “I was a little tired by the fifth, but I felt a lot better.”

Four assistant basketball coaches at Division I schools and a top Adidas executive were among 10 people charged Tuesday with crimes including bribery and fraud as part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into corruption in college basketball.

CenturyLink, the telecommunications company that ended its sponsorship agreement with Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall because of his protests during the national anthem last year, said it will not terminate its agreement with current client Emmanuel Sanders.